City of Medford seeking public input on proposed community court

MEDFORD, Ore — The City of Medford is requesting public input behind a potential plan to develop a community court program.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Assistance – community courts are programs that partner the community and the criminal justice system to address local problems. The crimes which are often misdemeanors, would be, “judicially supervised drug treatment, alternative sanctions, and other community-based services,” according to the DOJ.

“We’ve been looking into it for a couple of years along with the creation of the [Medford Police] Livability Team,” Katie Zerkel, Deputy City Attorney with the City of Medford, told NBC5 Monday. “Want to see if we can use those two resources together to just better serve the citizens, and get them plugged into resources that fit misdemeanor level.”

Zerkel said the council backed the idea when it was first presented in December – prompting the survey. Residents have until Friday, February 11th to submit feedback.

The link can be found on the City’s website here: Take the Community Court Survey

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